Oil pressure everywhere?!?!

[steve1c]

Hi all,

Wonder if I could ask some advice...driving along, glanced at the oil pressure..less than 0!! Dipped clutch rolled to side of motorway and switched off. Checked oil, fine, started her up, oil perssure 15-20 as warm so normal. Stopped sweating and drove off. Kept a carefull eye on pressure....fine at low speeds but when about 2,800 rpm or above it goes from 20 ish to 10 then 20 then drops way below 0. I have dropped the clutch quickly and the dash oil level light has not come on.....is this a faulty guage, sign of the pump not working or a short? Any help/advice please, thanks.
Steve.

[chris watton]

Sounds very much like a faulty sender unit, easily fixed, even a dealer will sort it for less than £70

[razorman]

Mine is exactly the same and I had exactly the same panic attack when it first happened
There are other good posts on this subject if you search, but it appears that a faulty sender or spade connector needing cleaning and/or tightening are the favourite causes.
I hope to leave mine until it's service and MOT in July "Kerchinnnngggg" But I will be keep a close eye on the oil level till then

[chimy]

mine went like this and it was the spade connector. The cable is fastened to the chassis with a cable tie and there was no slack in the cable. when you rev the engine, engine moves - no oil pressure. Sender unit is under the oil filter on mine which is a 1997 5l - its a 2 min fix, dont leave it - jack it up and check it, and then you wont have to worry and it wont cost you. If its not that then it might be the sender.

[GreenV8S]

Make sure the oil pressure warning light works. It should come on with the ignition on and the engine stopped. The no charge warning light will come on at the same time, and is easily confused on some cars. The way to tell them apart is that the no charge warning light will also come on briefly as the engine spins down after you switch off.

If the oil pressure warning light works, and isn't coming on, you've got reason to hope you've still got some oil pressure even when the gauge indicates the oil pressure is playing up.

If the oil warning light doesn't work then you have to assume that zero on the gauge is a potential catastrophe.

[paulu]

I had this problem when I first got mine, It turned out to be low oil level that time.

[edward1]

Suffered from some spurious readings on mine, it would suddenly drop from 30 to 0 on the M/way. Also noticed the pressure would sometimes drop off in traffic when warm. Initially thought it to be the oil thinning at temperature, however never had the warning light that was functional come on.

Just had new sender at service and the pressure is much healthier, and doesn't have a tendancy for random wanderings. Makes driving much less worrying and less stressful!

[steve1c]

Thanks for all responses...turned out to be the sender. Many thanks,
Steve.